With Apple’s decision last year to no longer exhibit at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, the first question became, when and where can we exect those flashy new product announcements we’ve all grown to love?

The answer in part was that Apple beefed up their own WWDC conference to include top level keynotes and product announcements, combined with smaller press events to announce new iPods and other devices throughout the year.

With CES and Macworld conferences overlapping in the past, some thought the Apple may just switch to the CES venue for their early year announcements, however Apple is not listed as an exhibiter for this year’s conference.

While Apple can easily rally the press for a special event to show off and announce new hardware, nothing quite builds the excitement and word of mouth as a trade show. Yes I know trade shows may be a dying breed, but the mixture of different vendors and the general public (fans) can add a lot to the hype of a product announcement, which translates into early sales (a la iPhone.)

So while we all know they are going to be some exiting Apple tablets products on the horizon next year, the question is when and where will we first get to see them?

My guess is that Apple will continue to make their own special events grander (live streaming video already) and maybe tie in some working demos of “coming soon products” inside of select Apple Stores. That way, people all across the country can check out the latest wares and feel part of the announcement.